


Affiliation

by DarkSadisticAngel



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Control, Dark, M/M, Psychic Abilities, Science Fiction, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 18:35:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2438684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSadisticAngel/pseuds/DarkSadisticAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duo, a Non-Talent human, gets a lowly technician's job at a top laboratory where he encounters Heero, a Talent of a special kind whom is a pet project of L1. Set in a world where Non-Talents are discriminated against. 1x2, AU, Lime/Lemon, Yaoi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Affiliation

**Author's Note:**

> 2005/06/20.

Duo looked around, uncertain. He had been told simply to go to Lab 14 after the application exam finished. But whether it meant he had the job or not, he wasn't sure. However, before that, he had a problem. He couldn't get into the lab to find out. The door required a higher level card than the visitors pass he had been issue. Duo sighed. Knowing it was useless, but unable to help himself, he slid his card through the slot again. The box generated a familiar buzzing noise as he did so. Duo slumped again the door and swore softly. Knocking hard on the thick metal door had redden his knuckles and his hand was too sore now for him to try again. There was no one was walking down the corridors he could ask to let him in either.  
But he could not give up. The job was too important. There weren't many jobs a Non-Talent could hold. Even construction companies preferred Talents because of their telekinetic powers. Getting a real job meant a source of credits that he needed more than anything. His stomach growled. Duo ignored it, used to the hunger pangs. If he got the job he would.... But first, he had to find out if he had gotten the job. And that meant getting in the lab.  
Duo's gaze fell on the system lock, and he eyed the buttons. Class A System Libra. One of the top best. Formidable security for a supposing low level access area, although not all that surprising considering that he was currently in one of the most highly prestigious research centre in the Earth zone. Even if he was just on the second floor of it. He looked around him. There was only one camera nearby him, and it was positioned in an awkward place. A slow grin cross his face as an idea came into his head. Well, there was one method he hadn't tried yet.  
Turning his body so that it shield his hands and the lock, Duo pried open the case of the wall box with a strangely twisted hairpin he removed from behind his ear, then his fingers. He flicked a few strands of wire out from their sockets and crossed two. Duo then began typing quickly on the keypad behind a bulky chip. Pausing once, he swiped his card through the slot again, he quickly cleared up his work, replacing back the wires and the outside cover again. Everything was done in a few seconds.  
After he finished, he again swiped his card. The small wall box beeped once. A few audible clicks were heard as heavy mechanics grinded somewhere unseen. Then the door slide open. Hacking successful. As always. Duo practically skipped inside with relief. Hacking was one skill he had kept hidden from the interviewer- had to actually. It wasn't one skill any employer would want in an employee, barring his current ones who now also wanted a hell lot more than Duo was willing to give. Legit employment. It was a big enough dream for him for him to dabble in a little bit of the illicit to get him there. He stole the smart business suit which he was wearing, so what was a little lock picking? Stage two past, stage one the process of his application. Now for stage three- finding out whether he had the job, or whether his hopes would stay just a dream.

 

The room was crowded of weird machinery. The metal and glass glinted dully in the pale glow that was the only lighting. Duo frowned as the door slide shut behind him. No one was inside. At least, not that he could see. Maybe he came to the wrong room. Instantly, he dismissed the thought. He had checked and checked again before that the room he had been stranded before was the right room. He was definitely in Lab IIG. The question was, where were the people he was suppose to meet? It was so silent.  
'Cunning little bugger, aren't you?' A harsh voice laced with laughter came from a dark corner. 'Guess some Non-Talents have a little bit of brains after all, to be able to pick a classy lock like that.'  
Duo jumped and whirled around at the sound.  
'Who-'  
'I am Doctor G.'  
Behind a mass of tubes and bottles, a short elderly man stood up from a glowing monitor screen. On the screen showed the hallway he had just exited, but from a different angle than he expected from the security camera. Shit. There had been a hidden one. He had screwed. The speaker had been watching him apparently. But he wouldn't have screwed if- what an asshole. He had been waiting out there all that time and the doctor had been just enjoying his dilemma. Duo steamed.  
The man stepped out from the shadows, underneath a weak overhead light. Duo took a few paces back as he saw the man more clearly. The doctor was one of the ugliest excuses for a human being he had ever seen, and he lived side by side with crippled street beggars too. An impossibly long nose stretched out from beneath beady eyes almost hidden by a shock of uncombed hair. A large, vivid scar down his left eye did not help much for the man's appearance either.  
'Christ you are ugly,' he blurted out the words before he could stop himself.  
Duo slapped himself across his mouth with his left hand as he realised he had just insulted his prospective employer. Oh shit, he just totally blown his chances because of his stupid waylaid tongue. To his surprise however, the old man did not seem to take offence at his words. Instead, the scientist cackled again.  
'You're honest too. I like that. Don't look worried boy, I am going to hire you despite that mouth you have on you. One second thoughts, maybe you should look worried. You're going to be working mostly in my section after all.' The doctor laughed at his own joke.  
Duo smiled weakly. Despite his relief at the getting the job somehow... somewhere inside him, a sense of foreboding arose. The place and the so called doctor was freaky. What exactly had he walked into?

 

'Yeah, yeah, I'm getting it. Jeez, give a guy a break. I only have two hands you know.'  
Only six weeks into the job, and Duo had adjusted to his environment. He had also become adjusted to the most quirks of the weird scientists that worked in the labs, although not all. There were five sections, each headed by a specific head scientist. Although Duo did not know much about the highest secured section, 01, he was familiar with the remaining due to weekend rotations. His main section, however, was 02. Duo had no complaints. He had a bank account for the first time in his life, and even better, a lot of credits in the account. Life was fine. Except perhaps when he was requested to take the weekly urine and excretory examples from the laboratory monkeys. God, he hated those assignments. Which was what he was assigned to do at the current moment.  
The monkey he was handling squealed and slapped at him. Duo cursed and dodged the wrinkled hand.  
'Damn, it's not like it's anything important I'm taking. I just want your shit, okay? So squeeze it out- I ain't got no time for monkey business.'  
At last successful, Duo replaced the monkey back into the cleaned cage. He looked at his gloved hand and the sample he held with it in distaste.  
'I don't think I will ever get use to this.'  
'Trust me, you will.'  
Duo jumped at the voice. He dropped the glass sample.  
'Shit!' Duo managed to catch the tubular container again before it impacted on the ground. He looked up as he steadied himself in an awkward, half bend over position. Duo held the glass up in his right hand before the speaker as he balanced himself with his left.  
'Well, of course it is.' The girl giggled. 'On those rounds, I see. Don't stress- what I said is true, you will get use to it. Still,' she smiled warmly, 'it does take time.' The dark hair girl took the container from Duo's hands and proffered her own in turn. 'I'm Hirde. Hirde Scheiker. I guess we're the same, aren't we? Non-Talented technicians.'  
Duo took the hand and rose up.  
'Duo Maxwell- a Non-Talent but still talented,' he quipped. Duo gave a flourished bow. 'I run, I hide, but I never, ever lie, so believe when I say I am talented, I am talented.'  
The small girl laughed.  
'You forgot include “egotistic”.'  
Duo gave a wounded look.  
'In what way? I only tell the truth.'  
The girl shook her head, smiling.  
'Here's your crap back. What section do you work?'  
'02.'  
Hirde lifted up an eyebrow and whistled. 'That's pretty high. I didn't know they took newbies.' She walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a tray. 'I'm only in the 07 clearance range, and I've been working here for two years. One of the doctors must have taken a liking to you then during the interview.' She shook her head. 'Damn, you're lucky. You grabbed the best place to work in.'  
'I have?'  
Hirde nodded vigorously. 'Yep. Naturally everyone wants to work in the top sections, save for that section 01 of course. 02 is suppose to be the best place to work here in the Centre. Then, it's 03, 04, and then 05, 06 are both equally good. My section,' she made a face, 'is somewhere between the upper and the lower sections.'  
'I would have thought 01 would be the best? It being the top and all.'  
'There's the top and there's the top,' she emphasised the last word, 'after all. There's a saying here- 02 is the borderline. 01 is over. And everyone at the Centre, Talent or Non-Talent, knows this.'  
'It's dangerous?'  
Hirde looked uneasily. 'Lets just say there are rumours. Whether they're true or not, most don't stay long there anyway.' She avoided the question. 'Since you're at 02- just don't get yourself promoted, whatever you do. That's all I'm going to say on the subject.' She tilted her head thoughtfully. 'But I don't think that's there's anything to worry about. Lowly Non-Talents almost never get noticed by the promotion staff.' She shrugged and lifted up her tray. 'Well, I have to get going. It was nice meeting you.'  
Duo smiled. 'You too.'  
Hirde smiled. 'Say, if you get a break off, I always eat at the main staff cafeteria if you want someone to talk to.' She winked as she swayed by.  
'I'll keep that in mind.'  
He admired the curve of her buttocks underneath the Centre's uniform as she exited.  
'She's cute...'  
An ugly scarred face appeared in the doorway.  
'Gaaaa, and that's ugly.'  
'Get use to it boy.' Doctor G snorted. The short man stomped inside, his beady eyes flickering briefly over the monkey cages, then settling on Duo.  
'Have you got the samples yet?'  
'Right here.' He held up the glass tube.  
The scientist reached up and snatched them from his hands. He examined the amount. With a grunt, he indicated his satisfaction. 'Good. Now head over to 01, will you boy? J needs these files.' He handed Duo a clipboard folder, crammed full with scrawled notes.  
'Section... 01?'  
'Your hearing ain't faulty boy.' He grinned nastily. 'You look a little pale. I see you've heard the rumours 'bout the section. A little scared?' He poked at Duo's chest.  
'Oy, I ain't scared of no rumour.' Duo frowned.  
'You should be. It's not all rumours.' Doctor G's smirk widened. 'No matter boy, just do your job. You'll be fine.' He moved aside to a nearby monkey and patted the now cooing animal. 'Now skit and be done with it. You can take your lunch break and chase after that pretty young lass afterwards boy. I'll see you back in the lab at one.'  
'Gotcha G.' He grinned and hurried out of the animal lab, missing the faint look of speculation crossing the old scientist face. It was not a nice look.

 

'Files for the head Doc.' Duo poked his head around a door. 'Who do I give 'em to?' The security clearance card dangled down from a chain around his neck as he waved cheerily inside at the occupant of the entry chamber. The dark hair man looked up, a scowl of irritation on his face appeared as he noted the uniform Duo wore.  
'Use more respect when addressing your superiors and don't speak of the doctor in that manner. Know your place Non-Talent.'  
The man irritated Duo. Encountering discrimination against his lack of Talent always irritated him, but combined with the obvious smugness of the man as he looked down on him down right pissed him off. Low ranking or not, he was not going to take it.  
'Well screw you-,' he glanced at the man's tag, 'Trant, but I was only asking a question. If you don't know, just say so. I guess I'll just hand these to the man himself'  
Ignoring the man's muffled gasp of anger, Duo hopped inside and bounded through the reception section. He paused briefly before the doors on the other side.  
'Where do you think you're going?' The man half stood from behind his desk.  
'Inside. Jeez, I want to go on my lunch break as soon as possible, so I ain't got no time for your bull.'  
'You can't enter there. That's a restricted area-'  
'I can and will.' He slammed down his access card, and the door opened. 'So nyah.' He walked inside the section hallway, and smirked back at the man.  
'Look you-!'  
Duo flipped up his finger as the door behind him closed, shutting off the man's yell.  
'Asshole,' he muttered.  
'True. But he does his job well enough,' came an amused voice. 'He is a bit of an odd one, although in this section, that is the norm rather than the exception.'  
Duo whirled around.  
'Ah...'  
He blushed suddenly as he realised he had an audience. The speaker smiled, and walked fully out of an open laboratory doorway.  
'Sally Po. Medical officer. Might I inquire what purpose brings you here?'  
Duo lifted up his hand and laughed nervously.  
'Well, I got told to drop some files off to the head man here.'  
'Direct to him?'  
'I think so.'  
'From whom did you receive that order?'  
'Doctor G.'  
'Oh. Then in that case, you have to give the files direct to the head, since it's from another head.'  
'Where do I find him?'  
'I'll take you to him. He's not usually here in this wing.'  
A puzzled look crossed Duo. 'Ain't this the 01 building?'  
'This is the surface area. You're looking for the doctor, right? In that case, you'll probably need to visit the labs.'  
'So where is it?'  
'It's best that I show you it. I don't think you can find it on your own.'  
The full figured woman led Duo down the hallway. Just before the ending, she turned and climbed down a small stairway corridor. Duo followed her. Soon, he was lost in a maze of more corridors and doorways.  
'Where are we? Are you sure you know where we're going?'  
'Quite sure.'  
She suddenly stopped before a lone elevator. She pressed her fingers against the button, and a wall slot open. The blonde lady slipped her ID card inside.  
'Name?' An electronic voice spoke out.  
'Sally Po. Requesting permission to sub new member in.'  
'New member?'  
Sally stepped back and motioned Duo forward.  
'Say your name.'  
'Duo Maxwell.'  
A beep sounded.  
'Insert ID card please.'  
Duo obeyed, placing his card inside with care. The card whirred in and disappeared. Then a new card exited out of the slit.  
'Completed. New ID card assigned.'  
Sally took the card out and handed it to a surprised Duo.  
'There you go. The elevator should be coming up now. Just ride it down and it will take you to the basement where Doctor J works. I have to go now because I have a small engagement. But if you need any help getting back again, just call me on elevator intercom by saying my name. I'll up here again waiting if you need me.' She patted Duo on the head. 'You're just as cute as that other boy.' She chuckled. 'See you later Duo.'  
'Thanks for everything.'  
'You're welcomed.' Sally waved back before she disappeared into a side passage.

 

He stepped out into a world of wires and blinking computer lights. Duo almost tripped on an underlying wire as he did so.  
'Whaa...'  
An electronic chuckle came from an above speaker.  
'You must be G's new assistant...'  
'Doctor J?'  
'Correct,' rasped out the speaker. 'Do come in. I see you have the data I requested.'  
A door slide opened to the left of him, and an eerie blue light shone out of it. Uncertain, Duo made his way towards the new created entrance. He walked inside. A stooped man looked up, and smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. The man had no eyes to reflect what sort of emotion he felt. Metal circles, in the place of the lack, whirled as he focused on Duo. Duo guessed correctly that the man was Doctor J.  
'Well boy, where is it?'  
The growl confirmed it. He had heard the voice many times on the other end of the line of Doctor G's intranet arguments.  
'Here- who is that!?'  
Duo looked past the doctor's shoulder, his expression stunned. He froze in his action of handing the old man the file as he stared. Before him, visible through a wide glass frame, laid a naked brown hair boy on a giant mass of wires. Sharp chips of electronic mother boards poked out from the twisted knots of wires beneath him, however the youth looked comfortable on the pile, his lashes closed down in sleep and his chest breathing in and out in deep even breaths. He was beautiful.  
A harsh cackle broke through his train of thoughts.  
'Exquisite, isn't he?' Doctor J removed the file from his limp fingers.  
'Is he an angel?' he murmured, not realising he had spoken aloud.  
'Hardly. He's more like a demon.'  
Duo snapped back.  
'Huh?' He blinked and tore his eyes away from the caged boy.  
The old man grinned and shuffled past Duo. 'Never you mind anyway. Off you go boy. This here is none of you concern.' He tapped Duo's shoulder. 'Tell G that I need the other files too later.'  
Duo nodded and reluctantly move back to the open doorway. Then an odd sensation shivered down his spine. He looked back. Prussian blue eyes gazed at him. Duo did a double take. The boy behind the glass was now awake. He had half risen from his wired bed, and was staring straight at him. Duo's heart thudded sharply suddenly, and he felt his stomach drop. For some reason, he felt nauseous. His mouth opened in a choked gasp as he felt the air sucked out of his chest. Then the boy smiled and looked away.  
'Are you feeling okay?'  
Duo double blinked as he became aware of his surroundings again. The feeling faded, although he still felt strange. A little light headed perhaps. The boy behind the mirror had again closed his eyes, and looked as if he never awoken. Duo looked at the face. Had he imagined it?  
'Yes... I'm fine.' Then he repeated himself, just to reassure himself. 'I'm fine. I'll be going now. Bye now...'  
Shaking his head, Duo turned and walked wobbly out back to the place he came from. He was not aware of the hard look the old man gave his back, his mechanical lenses focused intently on the new assistant.

 

The news caught him by surprise.  
'Promotion? But I've only been here a short time. And I really don't want to be promoted actually... This section is really nice and-'  
'You've been promoted, but you're not entirely out of this section yet.'  
'Oh?'  
'You're just not on the norm anymore. Your morning rounds are cut down to only three days here, but you've got afternoon shifts at your brand new location, for all seven days a week.' Doctor G laughed nastily at Duo's sick expression. 'Them rumours got to you more than you want to admit eh?'  
Duo stiffened.  
'Hey, I'm Duo Maxwell. I'm scared of no rumours.'  
If anything, Doctor G's laugh grew even nastier and louder.  
'Well, boy, it ain't the rumours you should be afraid of. It should be the reality.'  
The short, hunched man pounded his hand on Duo's back. The man was surprisingly strong despite his age. It felt like Doctor G was deliberately hammering his back. Duo wouldn't put it past the crooked man.  
'Come on, boy,' Doctor G grinned widely, 'I'll show you the truth.'  
They wandered down the confusing route again.  
'Sshs, I swear I'm going to need a mini-navi computer or something to get around here,' Duo complained. 'There's no way I'm going to remember how to get there and back again. I got lost for six hours last time trying to find my back last time. If it weren't for that lady, I'd still be-'  
'Hmph. I keep on forgetting you're a Non-Talent. You'll be needing a min-navigator computer to find the lab. It moves all the time. Even strong Talents allowed on the mind-wave band assigned to Section 01 find it hard to keep track of it.'  
'A moving lab?'  
Doctor G grunted.  
'Don't sound so surprised. It's not like it's a technically impossible feat. This isn't some poor backyard lab. It's a top secret building with facilities a mad scientist's wet dreams are centred on.' The old man ignored Duo's flinch at the description and continued. 'I prefer my laboratory to be a nice, ordinary one built with solid floors and walls, as do the others, but J's a lot more paranoid and into the fancy stuff.'  
The old mad suddenly stopped walking. Duo stopped with him. And waited. And waited.  
'Hey G, aren't we suppose to be going somewhere?'  
'That somewhere's coming to us. I guess J's impatient to start already.'  
The wall at his right sudden disappeared. Four meters beyond whether the white wall used to be, a new, metal wall stood. Within it, the entrance of an open elevator stood open. Doctor G wandered into the box with a wide eye Duo following him. He grabbed onto some side bars at the back of the box, and motioned for Duo to do the same. As soon as Duo clasped his fingers around the cool metal, the elevator doors snapped closed. Suddenly Duo found himself moving sideways as the elevator dropped diagonally.  
'What the fuck!?'  
'Stop making a fuss, boy, and just hold on. It'll only be a moment before we get there.'  
True enough, as soon as the old man stopped speaking, the elevator stopped and the doors opened with a beep. Doctor J was waiting on the other end before them.  
'Fix up your elevator J. I think it's getting kind of creaky,' Doctor G grumpily snapped out. 'Where are you getting the boy to work in?'  
They stepped out of the elevator, on a bridge like metal platform that spanned over a long tube that seemed to stretch upwards into darkness, and below into similar, equally pit black emptiness. The elevator disappeared into a slot in the wall. A bland steel wall replaced the area where it had been. Duo frowned. He felt like his escape path had too, disappeared. It made him uneasy.  
'The back lab.'  
The voice of the machinery eyed old man echoed in the broad, hollow space. Duo turned back to the two conversing scientists.  
'The back lab. Hmm... that's surprising. I thought he didn't like people.'  
'In general, I don't.'  
The unexpected deep, rough voice from behind Duo caused him to screech an unmanly scream and jump half a metre into the air. He whirled around. From out of nowhere, the mysterious boy that he had saw before in the lab now stood before him. He was dressed this time, in ordinary jeans and an army green tank top. Duo noticed the boy was his height. Standing face to face, their eye level was a perfect match.  
Those Prussian blue eyes were freakishly bright. He felt like screaming at the other boy to not look at him with them. His studious gaze was invasive. He felt as if the other boy had ripped out his soul, settled it on a microscopic disk, and was analysing it with the help of a surgical knife, all while he was bleeding on the floor.  
'Unless they're useful.'  
Why that felt like the forewarning of doom, Duo didn't know.  
It just did.

 

He hadn't expected his so-called promotion to be that to a position of that of a damn slave! Unfortunately, he couldn't even bitch about the position to Hirde during their breakfasts together- the only time they could now snag time to see each other, because his new position demanded secrecy. He was fast running out of material to talk with Hirde because he couldn't say a thing about his work. Duo didn't know if he would be able to maintain the girl's interest. The fact he was working late into the nights took away the potential of a romantic date out. And he hadn't even scored her as his girlfriend yet. They were still at the flirting stage, and she still had plenty of other choices. Like that other tech in L4. Walker, or something. The thought of his rival made him scowl. Walker was a Talent, and despite the way Hirde dissed Talents, there was something in the way she looked with awe at Walker when he was displaying his Talent when she thought no one was watching irked him.  
Added to his irritation, was the pure menial work he was doing. He was doing nothing more than cleaning and moving stuff in the 01 Section. Unlike his previous position, he wasn't even allowed to touch a computer that was turned on. Only the Talented has such privileges. His job was simple in nature and mind bogglingly boring that even a moron could do it. Actually, only a moron was suited for it. Any other living being with an ounce of intelligence would be driven crazy by the sheer repetitiveness of shifting packages, computer equipment and the like from area to area, interspaced by light cleaning, filing and copying. In addition, he was the only Non-Talented help around, and that meant he was doing it for the whole section. Granted the Section 01 had less than a handful of scientists compared to the massive Section 02, but it had mountains more fancy equipment which required cleaning on a daily basis by yours truly, the only and only handyman around. They had obviously chose a Non-Talent for the position because no self respecting Talent would have been caught dead in the position.  
Far from just the afternoon shifts, he was working the mornings he had off the Sector 02 at the 01 lab too, and the overtime he had to do stretched the shifts well into the night. Which meant that he spent as much time in the labs as the freaky Doctor J and his even freakier subject, Heero Yuy. Yippee.  
If the alternative wasn't starving on the streets again, Duo would seriously consider quitting his job.  
Useful, eh? He was so tempted to show the other boy just how useful he could be- by showing him-  
'Clean that monitor there, and when you're down there, disconnect that blue board there and connected to the other green one there with the grey wires,' came a cold, clipped and all too familiar voice.  
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Orders and more orders. If Heero wasn't grunting, he was barking orders like a machine toy dog winded up. Duo felt the urge to bang his head against the wall. The fact was that even if he inflicted pain on himself, he knew he would not wake out of the nightmare that was his current life of being a dogsbody to the Talented boy. He could say with qualms that he now indeed missed the smell of monkey shit. His old job had allowed him to deal with warm blooded beings, not cold blooded assholes.  
He had tried to make friends with him. He really did. But even though they were around the same age, there was a world of difference between them. And it was not just the usual difference between Talents and Non-Talents. It was a severe personality clash that no amount of effort could overcome. He had given up days ago. There was no way in hell that he could remotely get along with the bastard. The culture of the L1 labs demanded high secrecy and fucked up snobbishness from its residents in spades, and working there was like working with aliens who did not know how to conduct a normal conversation, let alone laugh. Heero fucking Yuy was the prime example of the aliens there. Although he was in no doubt a freak in even the circles of the 01 Section Talents because the guy practically lived there, and was the main subject of many of the experiments performed. Not hat he knew what those experiments were about. The endless array of experiments centred around Heero that Doctor J headed looked complex and hard. He'd be damned if he knew why the boy seemed to be forever plugged into the computer devices, with all those damn wires floating around him. The boy spent most of his time inside the room, with his pet like cable wires, but even when he walked out, they trailed after him in the air almost all the time, dropping down onto the floor only when they reached the extent of their lengths. It was one of his jobs to pick up the cables and placed the wires out of the way so the elderly scientists in the section would not trip over them and break their necks.  
If he was to be frank with himself, he did find the experiments with the boy naked on the mountain of computers in the other room a little erotic, but he refused to allow himself to think much about it. He could handle Heero better if the bastard would actually put on some clothes on. He didn't get why the boy simply wandered around the labs stark naked the majority of time with only floating wires to hide himself- which really meant they provided only decoration because no cable wire could hide that! Granted, all the scientists around the Section 01 were aging old male and they didn't seem to care about it, but he was a young, healthy male, and he had no urges to be looking at another guy's dick. Urg. It was just so... damn distracting.  
The board he held slipped from his grip.  
'Whoa-!' he just caught the hardware with the tips of his fingers and sighed in relief. Just one board was worth apparently a year's worth of his pay. He so didn't want to break one.  
Concentrate, he ordered himself. Contrary to his command, his mind began to drift again .  
It was sick, actually, the way Heero played around with the moving wires of the equipment. Showing off his Talent skill. Oh like wow, only a quarter the population can do that shit. And so what if he can't himself? He had the privilege of being Non-Talent, and considering the rate they were fast disappearing from the population due to fact they were less equipped and very disadvantaged in many areas, he was proud of the fact that he nevertheless had managed to make to the middle-class category from the slums. Now that was something, not shit that was just inborn.  
Waving wires in the air. Big deal. Stroking the pale, naked flesh of...  
'Fuck,' Duo swore as his fingers fumbled several times before he managed to unhook the wires connecting the boards. Stress. That was it. He had been cooped up in the laboratory for so long that he was bored out of his fucking mind and was entertaining himself with sick fantasies because he had no life. Tomorrow- or maybe even after work tonight, he was going to find Professor G and beg the old man for a demotion from 01. His state of mental health was very questionable now.  
'Hurry up.'  
'I'm doing it as fast as I can.' Duo tensed at the authoritive bark. 'Shit, this isn't the only thing I have to get down today, you know. You try doing it yourself if you're not happy with the job I'm doing.' He began reconnecting the wires to a band running the ends of the replacement board. 'I'm not a fucking robot like you.' He replaced the new board in.  
'I'm not a robot.'  
'You sure fooled me. I've think you affiliate with machines too much Heero, that you forgotten how to affiliate with humans.'  
Heero suddenly appeared before him. Naked, as usual.  
'Waaah!'  
Duo rocked back on his heels and fell on his ass.  
'Ouch... my back...' he looked down, deliberately away from the strong muscular thighs within his sight, and rubbed at the base of his spine. 'Shit, Heero. Don't do the teleporting without warning, okay? I'm a Non-Talent- I can't sense these sorts of things.'  
A hand came in his lowered vision.  
'Here.'  
'Er... thanks.'  
He was pulled up by a cool hand. After he managed to stand, the hand did not release his.  
'Um... Heero?' Duo looked questioningly at the other boy.  
That was a mistake. Searing bright vivid Prussian eyes burned into his soul. It was then Duo realised that it had been a long time since he had seen them. He had been avoiding looking directly into the other boy's eyes ever since their second meeting, talking to him while always looking at something else. Anywhere but in the direction of those burning eyes. They had no less effect now as they did before. He felt his knees weaken. Damnit. What exactly was wrong with him? He determinately drew himself and straightened, unaware that he used the hand Heero kept wrapped around his own as a balance.  
Something flickered across Heero's eyes. Duo's gut clutched as he recognised it. It was the look of a predator eying a prey.  
'Do you think I've forgotten how to affiliate with humans?' Wires from his arms moved away and the fell away from the boy as he stepped towards Duo, drawing even more closer.  
'Yes! I do,' he stood his place bravely.  
'I don't think I have. I believe everyday, I find out more and more how to affiliate with them.'  
'My ass! I doubt that you know anyway how to affiliate with other human beings.' Hating the way Heero made him feel, Duo turned on him. 'It's like you are not one, simply a machine. You've probably become one since you don't socialise with anything other than those stupid machines-'  
'Watch it, I don't -'  
'You don't feel! You don't feel but I sure as hell do.' Duo shouted. 'You were probably born without emotions. Your Talent is being a rock that does not feel anything at all or even understand a normal human being! Let alone respect another person! You don't care about anything, or how anyone things. Just work, work, work, all the while you're waving your sexy assets out in the air like that, so I can't concentrate on my work- and then you yell at me for that? What's with you? Do you have any shame whatsoever? I'm a guy. I have needs that- oh shit!' Then his eyes widen in shock as he realised what he said. He clasped one hand over his mouth and swung around violently to hide his face. A heated blush stormed up his face.  
'What would you like me to do, affiliate with you?' A soft, husky voice whispered into Duo's ear. Duo jumped, startled. He lost his balance and began falling towards the ground. Muscular arms wrapped around him, and suddenly Duo found himself inside Heero's embrace, his face only an inch away from Heero's own.  
'I...' His throat dried up. He lost his voice. Heero was too close, too close for comfort. And too close for him hide his attraction for him. The betraying hardness between his legs was pressing hard against the other after all. Duo looked up into Heero's eyes, feeling exposed.  
'What would you like me to do?' Heero repeated. 'Affiliate with you?' A curve appeared on the edges of Heero's lips. 'I can feel that you do...'  
His soft, uncharacteristic teasing tone made Duo's temper flare.  
'Don't play games with me, Heero.'  
'What makes you think I'm playing?'  
'Look, you-'  
'Voice- freeze.'  
Heero's voice dropped back into its usual cold, emotionless tone. Duo found that he could not speak. Something froze his vocal chords and tongue. What-  
'What is happening to you? Well now, I'm sure you've always been wondering what I've been doing with all these machinery and wires, haven't you?'  
He traced a finger over Duo's trembling lips.  
'I'm a Talent, as you know. But I'm the one of a kind. I'm an Affiliator. I can affiliate and merge with machinery... and humans. So that means,' Heero lowered Duo gently down to the ground. Wires snacked from around them, and formed a net below Duo. Heero knelt onto the web of amassed wires, and moved above him, 'I know full well what it feels to be human...even if I lack emotions myself. I can affiliate with you completely, as you wished before.' His lips curved into a smirk, although the voice that spoke was still devoid of emotion. 'You're mine now.' His lips moved. 'Body- high control.'  
Duo eyes widened. His body suddenly feel tight, as if an invisible net had been cast over him. Then a tidal wave of pleasure blasted him. He had to scream, but he couldn't. He shuddered and attempted to damn the other with his eyes even as they semi-closed in pleasure. Duo watched helplessly Heero unzipped the zip of his pants below. His arms were frozen. He could not lift them or even move a finger to stop the youth. He wanted to scream for the other to stop, but he could not. In frustrated silence, and fear, he could only watch as his penis stood straight up as it was released from its confines. Heero caressed it gently, rubbing his thumb lightly around the tiny opening. A little liquid squirted out, and then began streaming. Duo bit his lip.  
'You cannot come completely until I say so, but you may orgasm.'  
Heero leant down and placed his mouth on Duo's penis. His mouth worked from the ever sensitive tip down his shaft, towards his round sacks. The net around him loosened, and Duo shuddered. He wanted to scream, but his voice cords were still frozen. He couldn't even manage a muffled whimper as Heero paused then took his manhood all down his throat in a smooth action that made him blank out with pleasure. He was in heaven and in hell.  
It was then he felt something at his entrance. Duo's breath hitched as he felt the cold nub end of a thick cable nudged at his opening. It was one of the bigger varieties.  
'Body- low control, Voice- release.'  
'No... let go... of me. Bastard!'  
He felt the cable enter him.  
'Aaah!'  
Duo had never thought his first time would be like this. He had thought... maybe with Hirde, or some Non-Talent girl, but not like what was happening to him. Not this way. It was too... sick! He didn't care if it felt good. It wasn't right!  
'Nmm... ngh! You... bastard!'  
His back arched. He attempted to lash out at Heero, and to his satisfaction, his hands came up. But then they curled around Heero's muscular shoulders in an embrace instead of slamming the brown hair youth's head. His control was still not his own. Duo's eyes widened in shock as the hard cable inside him rubbed against his inner, sensitive place.  
'Nnmmggh!' he cried out as an incredible shot of pure pleasure through him, followed by yet another.  
An orgasm tore through him, and Duo's grip loosened.  
'Oh hell... no... nooo...' He was starting to loose his senses again. Already his mind was being blanketed by a familiar fog. No, he couldn't... damn, he had to... His body trembled as another orgasm rippled through him. Heero continued to lick at his private place. The sensation of his warm, wet tongue combined with the cool thickness stimulating his prostate make Duo squirm. His breathing became harsher. His mind disappeared as instinct only took over. He clutched at Heero's thick brown locks, and began to grind his hips against Heero's soft, wet mouth.  
'Mnnn... more... oh please....'  
Still he could not release himself. The desire to do so was driving him crazy.  
'Damn you, what the... oh fuck... just...mmng... Hee... ro...' He shuddered violently. 'Damn, Hee...ro... I.... His pupils diluted as the room suddenly swirled around him. 'Just don't stop. Oh, fuck! Don't stop!'  
He whimpered in protest as Heero did the opposite.  
'No... don't stop.... Heero...' he moaned. 'Taste me again,' he begged. 'I need your touch.'  
He was aching and in pain. He wanted Heero. He wanted Heero to grant him release from the pain. Through his cloudy, hazy thoughts, a trickle of amusement came through to him. It seemed to come from a foreign, outside source, but at the moment, Duo didn't give a damn about the presence in his mind.  
'Heero.... please....'  
His head was pulled back by his braid and he looked with glazed eyes to the only one who could release him.  
'I'll grant you your first wish,' Heero leaned down and kissed Duo lightly, nibbling a little on Duo's bottom lip before licking the saliva off from the side of Duo's mouth. 'I'll affiliate with you for all of tonight. Twelve hours of darkness Duo, and this is only the beginning. And only after that, I'll grant you your second wish.'  
Duo closed his eyes and screamed in pain as another ripple of pleasure shot through him.  
He did not want it to stop. He wanted to be with Heero forever.  
Duo was lost.

 

'Where is that Maxwell? I need those results and it has been hours,' Doctor J muttered to himself. 'Where is that boy?'  
Heero looked to the side of him at the complaint, facing away from the flickering screen of the monitors for the first time during the day.  
'He is occupied elsewhere.'  
Doctor J's head shot up, startled at the voice. He looked towards Heero in surprise. The boy did not usually speak on a voluntary basis. Doctor J was instead use to conducting long, rambling monologues to himself which the other boy heard but rarely responded to.  
'What do you mean?'  
'He will not be working in the labs tonight.'  
'Where is he? he asked.  
'In my room.'  
Doctor J glanced at the glass separating the controls room from the special, glass case experiment room. He frowned, not seeing anyone in the room. There was nothing there but the usual complex structure of wired computers, boards, and wires.  
'The other one,' Heero clarified, pointing to a far door, barely visible past the assorted array of machinery.  
Doctor J recognised the door as the one to the bedroom the boy never slept in. Heero never used it. Heero rested in the other room instead. He was connected almost permanently to the Network, even when he slept. It reflected the extent of his affiliation with the wired networks. Doctor J suspected that the teenage substituted the wired networks which only he could access for the natural mental networks that most other Talents shared. Granted, the boy could access the mental channels too, but he was banned from doing so. With the depth of the power the boy had, and the nature of the rare Talent he had, it could not be chanced. He all too easily mind burn Talents riding on a network. Heero, in short, was a natural born weapon which had to be kept tightly controlled.  
All behaviour had to be watched. Especially unusual behaviour.  
'Why is he there?'  
'He wanted to be affiliated with me.'  
His eyebrows rose up in incredulity.  
'So did you... affiliate with him?'  
'Yes.'  
'In what manner did you affiliate with him?'  
'Sexually.'  
'...how long?'  
'It's been four hours, fifty three minutes so far. Seven hours, seven minutes remaining until the end.' Heero turned back to the computer screens.  
Doctor J paused.  
'He's still alive!?'  
'Yes. So far.'  
'Heero, are you planning on killing him?'  
'No.'  
'Then cease the affiliation immediately. It is very... surprising that Maxwell has survived that amount of interaction.' That was a huge understatement- they had to study the data immediately after the contact was cut. 'But it is not possible for him to survive a week of such intensive levels, especially at the most intensive stress level. He is not super computer that can handle a huge mass of complex energy output, he is human without any special Talent. And not even a Talent can handle you for very long. You will burn out both his mind and body entirely. Please cease the affiliation at once.'  
'No.'  
'Heero, you are being illogical.'  
'No, he is a Talent. I read a pattern in his mind when I first met him.'  
Doctor J stopped, stunned by the information. Intensive screening was conducted on every personnel to detect even the most minimum of raw Talent. He had read Maxwell's file. The boy had no Talent.  
'A pattern? It is not possible. The compulsory entry tests would have picked it up.'  
'Not this one. It is a new one.'  
'What is it?'  
'A Talent of Death. He controls death. I don't believe there will be another pattern like his.' Heero smiled. 'Through affiliation with him, I will control Death himself... and I will not allow him to die.'  
The whirr of computers sounded loud in the silence that followed.

 

'Emancipate.'  
It was with a cold snap that the force that had been holding him released him. He was wrenched out of the dreamy state he had been in and into fast, clashing world. Everything in him rushed forward, spinning out into a heated spurt of raw relief. It made him scream in pain as the pressure within him eased and he cried, half because of the esoteric excruciation rippling through his body as the aftermath, and half due to his sheer pleasure of fulfilment.  
He was dead. He was in Hell. He was in Heaven. He didn't know and nor could he bring himself to open his eyes to find out. He did not care. All he knew was that the tide that had drowned him was ebbing away and the beach that it left him one was a rocky one with many sharp edges. He clawed at it blindly, trying to find his way back to the sea. In its murky depths, he knew nothing. And he liked that.  
Lost. He was unable to find his way back. Where was it? Maybe if he did open his eyes, he could find it. With great force, he lifted his lids. Blackness. He struggled to see, but could not. Everything was dark. Pitch black. Not even a shadow remained. He suddenly felt cold, as if all the warm was drained out of him. He shivered. Why was it so cold? So very cold... and lonely.  
'Wake up Duo.'  
Shards of ice were stabbing him everywhere. He twisted and turned, trying to evade the sharp blades. He wanted to return back. He wanted to go back desperately.  
'It hurts.'  
'I'll take away your pain if you obey me.' A breath of warmth brushed his lips. 'Come with me.'  
He followed the promising voice up desperately, towards a small opening that appeared in the darkness. It looked like a star. He reached out and grabbed it. Blinding white light seared his eyes as he surfaced. He screamed again and again as the rays burned him. Hands wrapped themselves around him and he fought the tight hold.  
'Steady.'  
And suddenly the pain was gone. Duo found himself looking up at Heero. He was in the other boy's arms, face to face with him. Heero's body weight pressed heavily against him, holding him down.  
Blue eyes scanned him. Despite the apparently coolness of their colour, there was a hint of relief and concern present in his eyes.  
'How do you feel?'  
Duo opened his mouth, but found himself unable to make his tongue move. All that came from him was a tiny moan. He gazed up, his mind foggy. He was so tired. He could barely keep his eyes open.  
'Mm... tired....'  
Heero touched Duo's forehead. His finger traced the curve of his eyebrows before trailing down the bridge of his nose. He paused as he touched Duo's lips.  
'Heero..?'  
Despite the fact Heero was touching his skin, Duo felt like Heero was far away. His befuddled brain attempted to figure out why. With a faint, distant click, he realised why.  
'You're not in me...' he said, his voice slurred. 'Come back, Heero. I need you.'  
'Later. Rest for now. You're exhausted.'  
Duo closed his eyes.  
'But I need you...'  
A softness brushed over his lips. A kiss?  
'I think need you too.'  
Duo smiled, and fell into deep, exhausted sleep.

 

Fin.


End file.
